The Christmas Market on Vorosmarty Square is often thought of as the single Christmas market in the city of Budapest, which luckily is not true. However, what is true is that the Xmas fair on Vörösmarty Square is the oldest, richest and the most spectacular of all the Christmas markets in Budapest.

Christmas Market Vorosmarty Square, Budapest (photo: BudapestInfo)

November 10, 2017 – Dec 31, 2017
the Crafts Market of the Budapest Christmas Market is open between Nov 10 and Dec 28, 2017. After that, only the Food stalls will remain open until December 31, 2017.

Indeed we ourselves get many of our Christmas gifts from the Christmas market on Vorosmarty Square, and then, holding onto our mulled wine in a festive gift mug, we just walk over to the Christmas fair on St Stephen’s Square, right in front of the Basilica to make sure that we get a chance to see all the lovely handmade gifts local Hungarians make keeping the old trades and traditions alive. Make sure to buy crafts until Dec 24 on Vorosmarty Square Christmas market as the craft stalls are only open during the Advent period (unlike on St Stephen’s Square at the Basilica Xmas Fair!)

When is the Christmas Market on Vorosmarty Square, Budapest?

The market is usually all through December, more specifically the Advent period. The date for 2017 has been set and updated : Nov 10, 2017 – Dec 31, 2017

The Christmas Market on Vorosmarty Square takes place each year in November and December. The handmade gift stalls are only open until Dec 24, Christmas Eve until 2pm. From Dec 28, only the gastro stalls remain open, the folk art and design stalls are only open until December 28. On Sundays at 4 pm: lightning the Advent Candle on the man sized Christmas Wreath, followed by Angelic Choir Songs.

Where is the Vorosmarty Square Christmas Market in Budapest?

Downtown, the Christmas market is in the best possible location in Budapest, in the heart of the city. The nice square is called Vorosmarty square, i.e. Vörösmarty tér in Hungarian.

What is the Christmas Market on Vorosmarty Square like?

First and foremost, the Christmas market on Vorosmarty ter is a delightful sensory experience: full of colours, festive sounds, and enticing smells. Like an old picture postcard from your grandmother’s age, when street foods and choirs singing were so natural. The festive market stalls are ready to open in mid November, and the square turns into an old folk tale with its dozens of buzzing wooden market stalls, the concert stage, thousands of handmade gifts, the lovely smell of cinnamon pastries (Kurtoskalacs – Chimney Cake), sausages, mulled wine, grilled vegetables, street snacks like Langos, dodolle (potato dumplings), etc.

The lights of the Xmas market are not the dazzling commercial mall lights, and you will not see hugely sized Santa Clauses either. The lights and decors are more toned down, which makes the fair sort of nostalgic.

Budapest Christmas Market Mulled Wine – TopBudapestOrg Photography

The nostalgia Christmas fair of Budapest will be both complemented and contrasted by the surrounding buildings on Vorosmarty square: while most buildings date back to the 19th century, like the popular Cafe Gerbeaud, there are also newer buildings. And what is new always reminds us that we are just visitors on a fairy tale Christmas island.

In the evenings, there will be festive light painting shows on Cafe Gerbeaud. The Christmas light painting on the facade of Cafe Gerbeaud is enchanting, puts you right into the middle of the Christmas story. In some years, Cafe Gerbeaud had a huge Advent calendar on its facade, but in the last few years, the concept has changed, favouring the laser ray painting.

Map of Vorosmarty Square Christmas Market

Free Concerts at the Christmas Market

There are many free entertainments at the market, several concerts late afternoon, even on weekdays. Concerts are in a wide range of music genres: folk, jazz, crossover, indie, blues, soul and world music.

How do you say Vörösmarty tér in Hungarian?

The pronunciation of the Christmas square may seem too difficult at first time, but saying it 2-3 times out loud will make it super easy. Say: verr-ersh-mor-ty tay-r) Ö in Hungarian is always pronounced as the ‘ir’ in girl or Shirley, while É with an accent, is always pronounced as -ay- as in ray, say, but we do not say the ‘y’.

We have heard so many good things about your Christmas market in Budapest, can hardly wait to get there and see it live! When will be the ray painting? We want to make a video recording of the rays on cafe gerbaud. Can you please tell the date and the hour? Or is it all day, during daylight too?

This is truly the BEST Christmas Market in Europe. It would be great if you had a list of vendors (and contact information) who will be selling at the Market, for those of us who cannot (unfortunately) make it to Budapest this year. The vendors might be very happy to get orders from around the world through the internet.

Hello Eliana, thank you for your kind words. That is a brilliant idea, hopefully we will be able to give a chance to vendors to introduce themselves in the future. Each year there is a tender for the Christmas market stalls, and there are hundreds of artists, craftsmen, ceramists, etc. who sell their works at the fair. We hope that by sharing more photos of the Christmas market is already a big step towards attracting more visitors from around the world: http://www.flickr.com/photos/topbudapest/tags/budapestchristmasmarket/
Thank you for your idea again! Have a beautiful winter holiday!

Hello Chris, unfortunately the original planned date of Nov 15 could not be realised due to recent legal and municipal reasons, so the starting date has been updated for Nov 27 on Vorosmarty Square (at the Basilica Nov 29). We are sorry that the date on the website was not updated yet as it should have been. The Facebook event page has also been updated accordingly: https://www.facebook.com/events/1392258794340791/

Hello Emma, the opening hours of the Budapest Christmas markets are generally from 10 am to 10 pm through the Advent period. Do visit the market at the Basilica too if time allows, only 5 min walk from Vorosmarty Square where the main Xmas market is.